Toy vehicle play sets are well known in the art and have proven to be an extremely popular and long lasting toy product. In response to this popularity, a variety of toy vehicle track sets and toy vehicle play sets are provided. In many toy vehicle play sets, toy vehicles are provided which are not powered or freewheeling while in other toy vehicle play sets, self-powered toy vehicles are employed. Many freewheeling toy vehicles are acted upon by some type of accelerator or launcher to propel the toy vehicle down the track way, imparting considerable momentum thereon.
The tracks and track segments themselves are also subject to considerable variety. Many track segments are generally formed of a molded plastic material or the like and define a road surface having side rails or guides raised on each side thereof. The sidewalls or guides function to direct the toy vehicle along the roadway. In many toy vehicle playsets, the track way is formed as a closed circuit and the toy vehicles are operated in continuous laps upon the track circuit.
With increased sophistication of related arts and efforts in the toy art to improve products, the complexity and sophistication of toy vehicle track sets has increased. Tracks have become more complex with various loops and/or jumps replacing the standard oval track. In addition, various competitive type track sets have developed using multiple lanes and cars to provide a competitive racing feature. Other features such as speed boosters and lap counter stations have also been provided to further increase the play value of such tracksets. With the addition of these features, free-wheeling toy vehicles sometimes unintentionally “jump the track” rather than continue in the intended closed loop track.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a toy track set having energy absorbing features.